Outside Loop
AVC_OutsideLoop plugin for AutoCAD and BricsCAD
Join segments to closed polyline. Convert any curves to polylines.
Approximation of splines with a given tolerance. Contour optimization.
The Outeside Loop (OSL) command is useful to optimize splines, convert them into polylines. Before pulling contours into a solid body, it is also very useful to call this program. It combines _Join, _Boundary, _Overkill, _Splinedit and many add-ons.
If CNC milling machines are used in your production, then you probably have to prepare the contours of the parts before exporting to the CAM program. It's not enough to take flat images with 3D solids. You need to remove the overlays and intersections of the lines, convert the splines to arcs, close the contours in the polyline, assign the correct layers according to the type of processing. All this work can be done with the regular means of AutoCAD. But it's long and you can not notice many mistakes.
Features of the program
Searches for the largest outside loop in a set of intersecting lines and curves.
Allows the lines to intersect. All the tails will be cut off.
Closes the contours inside the outer, nested into each other. And distributes them on layers - for external and internal milling.
It can create several contours at once by one command call.
It connects small breaks in the contour.
Correct slightly squinting horizontal and vertical.
Converts splines and ellipses in a line and an arc with a given tolerance (the maximum deviation from the original curve).
Projects 3d splines and 2d and 3d polylines onto the XY plane to convert to normal polylines.
Works with the object 2d-polylines, which occurs when the text is exploded using the TXTEXP command.
Restores the circles from ellipses and splines when the cylinder was projected crookedly (hole in the solid).
Cleans rubbish: small pieces, dots, layers of lines on each other or located too close (similar to the cleaning command Overkill).
Gluing tiny trimming lines into full lines and arcs.
Is able to replace the chain of small lines with arcs, and vice versa, too straight arcs - by straight lines.
Combines a line, broken into segments into one whole. This optimizes the number of segments.
Turns the arcs with NormalZ = -1. These are the same arcs that FlatShot leaves and because of which it is impossible to extrude solid, nor to process it on the CNC.
Spreads the resulting contours by layers. If inside contours are detected, the program can write the milling depth in the layer name.
Identifies the contours of pockets that can not be traversed by a given cutter at a time and placed in a separate layer.
Calls the Inside Corner command to form the milling cutter into the corner. This option can be enabled separately for external and for internal loops.
It filters the selected lines, ignoring the invisible and auxiliary layers and the type of lines.
Works in the UCS. All objects will be projected onto the XY plane of the current UCS.
Works within specified, configurable tolerance.
You can enable and disable layer management.
You can use layers from a template file.
Along with the Outeside Loop (OSL) command, you get another command, "Simplifying contours in files" (SimpInFiles). This command does all the same work as OSL, but it processes many files at once and adds the file name to the center of each drawing.
This command is called inside the NC_Prepare (NCP) and Overall Dimensions (DimOverall) commands.
If you don't need contour optimization, but only need to convert splines to polylines, then use the "Curves to Polylines" (CPoly) command.
And if you don't need transformations, but need to optimize polylines, then use "Automatic Simplification of Polylines" (ASimp).
The OSL & SimpInFiles commands is a part of the A>V>C> Pro package.
Read about downloading and installing the program here.
To run the plugin, you will have to register account and top up your account balance or receiving bonuses.
Then you can activate one of the licenses:
Annual license - 15 EUR.
Unlimited license - 75 EUR. Free updates for 1 year.
The trial period is 20 days.
Outeside Loop command (OSL)
Select all the curves and call the OSL command. If the objects are not selected in advance, the command will ask them to choose. In the query will be the option TUNE - it opens the settings dialog.
The extended optimization process can be interrupted with the Esc key.
The OSL command is affected by the Common Options. When the "Manage layers" option is enabled, the command will assign the contours the layer NC_Outside or NC_Inside. However, if the NC_ layers have already been assigned to the source lines, the command will not touch them. And when the option is disabled, all inside circuits will be assigned a blue color (index 150).
The basic settings for this command are located in the NC Prepare tab.
Watch the command line - there are displayed all the messages of the program.
Simplify Contours in Files command (SimpInFiles)
You should first configure the command. You will need the AVC Options Palette. The options for this command are the same as for the Outeside Loop and are located on the NC Prepare tab. Carefully configure the Selected Object Filter. You will not be able to specify which objects to process; all drawing objects that match these filter conditions will be processed. In the list of ignored layers you will see only the layers of the current drawing, but you can enter the layers of all files manually.
Call the SimpInFiles command. The file selection dialog will open. You can select one or more DWG or DXF files. Each file in the model space should contain the contour of one or more parts. Unfortunately, the file selection dialog does not allow you to select multiple files from different folders.
Immediately after selecting the files, the program will begin to open each file and run the OSL program in it with the current style of the NC Preparation settings. You will not be able to reconfigure the command while it is running - configure everything in advance.
The program will write in the command line how many drawing objects passed through the filters in each file.
After all the conversions and optimizations of the contours, the program will create a text with the file name in the middle of the drawing. And then save the drawing. You will not see the drawing on the screen - only messages in the command line. After processing all the files, the program will write the number of processed files in the command line.
Settings
To configure all 3D-solid contouring commands and 2D contour processing, the NC Preparation command settings dialog is collected.
You can bring up the settings dialog by selecting the TUNE option in command line. Or use AvcOptions palette. All options have a tooltip. About substitutions allowed in the names of the layers, you can read here.
There are many settings and for your convenience, you can use ready-made sets of settings, which I call CNC-Style. You can create up to 9 styles. You can switch the current style in the header of the settings window. And during the work of the command, you can call the SwitchStyle option and select the style by its number.
Attention! The current CNC-style affects all contour commands. Switching the style in one command you will work with this style in all other command too.
The operation of the command is affected by all options from this window, except for the Detailing section.
Pay attention on the Default Depth input field in Layer Naming section - This is important for naming layers when processing 2D contours.
A layer management and a layer template can be set on the A>V>C> tab in the Common Options section.
Known Issues
The command places all inside contours in the NC_Inside layer. But this is not always true. There are protrusions on the parts inside the pocket. And they must be milled outside the contour. The program can not understand this from flat pictures. Be careful.
The program can leave small stubs of arcs, add unnecessary circles to the contours and make other errors if you incorrectly adjust the Tolerance and Permissible Variation. Be careful when changing the tolerance settings. Return the default settings if you notice strangeness.
It may seem that the program is frozen. In fact, too many curves are processed very long. Press Esc and process the contours in groups of 20-30 curves.